JWST Finds a Possible 'Black Hole Star' at Cosmic Dawn

JWST spots a possible 'black hole star' in the early universe The object, MoM-BH*-1, seen about 660 million years after the Big Bang, appears consistent with a supermassive black hole shrouded in dense, turbulent gas that mimics stellar features. Described in Nature by MIT researchers, it may represent an early stage of supermassive black hole growth. 1

Dark energy is alive: study confirms the universe is still accelerating A University of Southampton team re-analyzed the 2025 Yonsei University claim and found no evidence that cosmic expansion has stopped accelerating. Their results appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, though the Yonsei team stands by its original finding. 2

China sets cold-atom entanglement record at 420 km, beating old mark fourfold Physicists led by Pan Jianwei entangled laser-cooled rubidium atoms in quantum memories 420 km apart over optical fiber, surpassing the previous distance by more than four times. Published in Physical Review Letters, the work provides a test bed for intercity quantum networks. 3

New RNA marker predicts faster cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease Researchers at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine linked an abnormal RNA signature tied to TDP-43 dysfunction to poorer memory and faster decline, based on brain analyses of 1,672 people with confirmed Alzheimer's. The finding points to a potential biomarker and therapeutic target beyond amyloid and tau. 4

Severe COVID-19 reactivates dormant viruses and worsens outcomes, large study finds Screening of 1,154 hospitalized COVID-19 patients found nearly half had reactivation of at least one chronic virus, such as cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, or anelloviruses. Reactivation was tied to more severe disease and death risk, and persistent activity may contribute to long COVID. 5

Cancer cells hide behind a sugar shield shaped by the tumor microenvironment A Sanford Burnham Prebys-led study in Science Advances shows that stiff surroundings and high glucose thicken the sugar-rich coating that helps cancer cells evade immune cells. Blocking heat shock factor 1 prevented the shield from thickening, offering a possible way to re-expose tumors to immune attack. 6

Polyamines act as iron storage lockers, revealing new anticancer strategy Whitehead Institute researchers discovered that cells use polyamines to safely hold redox-active iron in a non-reactive state, solving a decades-old mystery about their high abundance. The finding could enable iron overload-triggered cancer cell death and inform treatments for iron-related disorders. 7

JWST confirms galaxy merger drives Lyman continuum leakage in early universe Using JWST's high-resolution capabilities, Shengzhe Wang's team examined two Lyman-continuum leaker candidates from the LACES survey, adding support to the idea that galaxy mergers can let ionizing photons escape into the intergalactic medium. The results help clarify how galaxies contributed to cosmic reionization. 8

Water survives near Milky Way's supermassive black hole, JWST finds The James Webb Space Telescope detected water around a star surprisingly near the galactic center, showing the molecule can survive in an extreme environment thought hostile to it. 9

Wireless implantable device generates cancer-killing molecules for photodynamic therapy Researchers developed a wireless, implantable flexible microsystem that delivers light inside the body for photodynamic therapy, overcoming the limited tissue penetration that hampers treatment of internal cancers like bladder cancer. The system successfully generated the reactive molecules needed to destroy cancer cells. 10

IIT Delhi uses visible light to make unnatural amino acids precisely Led by Prof Ravi P Singh, the team combined light with a chiral copper catalyst-ligand system to produce 43 examples of single-enantiomer unnatural amino acids and peptides. The approach could expand the building blocks for next-generation drugs and biomaterials. 111213